WWE Smackdown on Friday, October 5 scored a 1.74 rating, which was a near-year-low for a first-run Friday episode. Smackdown was down five percent from a 1.83 rating the previous week, which was down six percent from a 1.95 rating two weeks ago.

The poor rating completed one of the worst weeks for pro wrestling on TV in recent history. After Monday's Raw dropped to an alarmingly low 2.5 rating, TNA's flagship Impact show dropped to a year-low 0.84 rating. Smackdown followed up with the second-lowest-rated first-run Friday show of the year.

Smackdown averaged 2.39 million viewers, which was the fewest of the year for a first-run Friday episode. The first Smackdown of October was down nine percent from last week's show and Smackdown has lost 567,000 viewers (19 percent) since the first show of September.

Smackdown was opposed by MLB's doubleheader Wild Card games, which included the controversial end to the Atlanta vs. St. Louis game, and averaged 5.3 million viewers. On cable TV Friday night, Smackdown ranked #11 in overall viewers, #12 among males 18-34, and #4 among males 18-49, which are all close to year-lows.

In the key demographic ratings, Smackdown took a hit among younger males and all adults 18-34. Smackdown hit a year-low for a first-run Friday show in males 12-34 and nearly hit a year-low in teen males 12-17. Adults 18-34 was way down 26 percent from last week to the lowest first-run Friday rating of the year.

He hosted the weekly Pro Wrestling Focus radio show on KFAN in the early 1990s and hosted the Ultimate Insiders DVD series distributed in retail stories internationally in the mid-2000s including interviews filmed in Los Angeles with Vince Russo & Ed Ferrara and Matt & Jeff Hardy. He currently hosts the most listened to pro wrestling audio show in the world, (the PWTorch Livecast, top ranked in iTunes)

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